A Comparison of Domestic and International Joint Ventures in Television Program and Feature Film Production

Abstract

International co-production /co-venture is increasingly the mode of production used for television programs and feature films. Evidence suggests the principal benefit of this mode is that, through financial pooling, it permits the accumulation of substantial budgets. However, there are concerns that cultural specificity, the Canadian nature of the resulting program or film, is often compromised. Domestic co-production /co-venture may be an alternative mode that offers the advantages of the international joint venture mode without compromising the Canadian nature of the final cultural product. In this paper we examine this issue by comparing participant experiences with domestic joint ventures to those for international joint ventures. We find that most benefit and drawback items are rated similarly. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence that for TV projects the performance of domestic joint ventures is rated better than that of international joint ventures. However, respondents also indicate that the domestic joint venture mode is not a viable alternative to the international joint venture mode for large budget projects.